The cited parent applications are assigned to the same assignee as the present application, and are hereby incorporated by reference as if set forth in their entirety herein.
In addition, the present application is related to the following applications by the same inventors as the present application and filed on the same day as the present application; these applications are owned by the same assignee as the present application and are hereby incorporated by reference as if set forth in their entirety herein.
(iii) Virtual Contact Center with Enhanced Language Capabilities;
(iv) Virtual Contact Center Serving Public Transaction Terminals;
(v) Enhanced Agent Authentication in Virtual Contact Center;
(vi) Virtuai Contact Center with Flexible Staffing Control.
The present invention relates generally to the field of communications systems. More particularly, the present invention relates, in one aspect, to communications contact centers, including distributed or virtual call center (VCC) functionality. Still more particularly, aspects of the present invention relate to virtual contact centers incorporating enhanced monitoring and control of interactive sessions between customers and call center customer representatives.
Previous patent applications (i) and (ii) cited above, describe network-based interaction between calling parties, a call control server, a merchant server and one or more agents or customer service representatives (CSRs), which CSRs may be distributed over a number of locations remote from the customer and servers. Using high speed data networks, including the Internet, and/or the public switched telephone network (PSTN) customers contact CSRs in a controlled manner, with sufficient information available at CSR stations to answer customer questions, receive customer orders, or otherwise to serve customer needs. Such network arrangements are referred to as virtual call centers.
In some cases, a customer will originate a telephone call that is extended to a CSR exclusively over the PSTN, but under the control of the call control server. In other cases, a customer may be in controlled contact with a CSR exclusively over a data connection, and in other cases contact between the customer and CSR will include both a data network portion and a PSTN portion. It proves useful to employ the term virtual contact center in the present application (and the concurrently filed incorporated applications) to refer to virtual call centers that service non-voice contacts (or voice contacts combined with non-voice contacts.) Callback techniques, by which calls are originated by a CSR in response to a contact made by a customer to a merchant location over a data link, prove attractive to customers for some merchant applications. Using well-known voice-over-IP (VOIP) techniques, a voice call may be carried over a data network for all or part of its extent.
Network controls to enhance network and transaction security typically include voice and CSR data terminal login procedures, and selective dissemination of merchant and control pages to CSRs and customers. Provision is readily made for CSRs to login and logoff at the beginning and end of a work shift, and to accommodate periodic CSR breaks. Additionally, when customer calling rates are not sufficient to keep scheduled CSRs occupied, the earlier-described systems and methods provide flexibility in temporarily releasing CSRs to pursue other activities. Because CSRs may be working from home or other non-traditional workplaces, such releases often prove very attractive to CSR personnel.
While the term customer is clearly appropriate for network-based sales transactions using the described techniques, the term applies equally well when callers seek information, assistance and other services as well. Thus, for example, the prior teachings of incorporated patent applications, (i) and (ii) will prove useful in providing library and other reference and consulting functions, in emergency and disaster applications, in political and other polling applications and a host of other applications. Incorporated patent applications (iii) through (vi) cited above likewise further illustrate (but by no means exhaust) contexts and services to which the prior inventive teachings may be applied. Simplicity of presentation dictates that the present description be based on an illustrative sales transaction context, i.e., the merchant will be assumed to be a supplier of goods or services. Those skilled in the art will recognize that the present inventive systems, techniques and principles will also apply to many other particular contexts. The term merchant will therefore be understood to include many non-merchant contexts, e.g., emergency service call centers.
While solutions provided by the several incorporated patent applications prove very useful in a wide variety of applications, certain customer-agent interactions present special concerns or deal with transactions of particular kinds necessitating different treatment. Thus, for example, customer service representatives may lack appropriate experience to deal with exceptional circumstances, or his/her training may not be up to date on some procedures, products or service offerings. To allow for these circumstances, prior call centers, including virtual call centers described in one or more of the above-cited incorporated patent applications, typically provide for supervisors or more experienced monitor representatives to be added to a customer call to a customer service representative. Such monitoring may, as well, proceed on a random or on a selective basis, including monitoring based on prior experience with particular CSRs, or to meet particular regulatory requirements. See generally, E. Muraskin, xe2x80x9cCall Monitoring and Recording,xe2x80x9d Computer Telephony.com, July 1999, pp. 78-91.
Such monitoring has previously been limited to participation by monitoring personnel (hereinafter a monitor, or monitors) in a one-way (listen-only) or, sometimes, a three-way connection with customer and CSR also participating. In some cases a monitor may communicate with a CSR separately via a computer link established with a monitored CSR to give advice and direction as required. It also proves useful for a monitor, upon listening to a transaction, to bridge onto the voice conversation between the agent and a customer. In other cases it may be necessary for the monitor to contact a call control server to have the call and any associated computer links (including those to a merchant application) transferred to the monitor""s location for further processing of an on-going transaction.
Heretofore, full participation in, and control of, an on-going transaction between a customer and a CSR, which participation and control include use of a merchant application has not been possible in virtual call centers of the type described in the several incorporated patent applications cited above. That is, a monitor may transfer a call to his/her location in place of the original CSR, but heretofore has not been able to participate in all aspects of the transaction while continuing to involve the CSR.
Limitations of the prior art are overcome and a technical advance is made, and the above-cited and other problems are solve in accordance with the present invention described in illustrative embodiments herein.
In accordance with one embodiment of the present invention, a virtual call center system includes facilities for full participation by a VCC monitor in a monitored transaction between a customer and a CSR using virtual network computing (VNC) techniques. Briefly, VNC provides a second display system remote from a first computer system (usually including a first display system) that permits a person at the second display system to view and (by use of illustrative basic input devices) control the computing desktop at the first computer. Here, as in common usage, desktop refers to available resources, such as are represented by icons and windows displaying software application activity (e.g., pages of text, forms, images and the like) displable on a CRT or similar screen. Such resources are selectable and/or subject to modification using devices such as a keyboard and mouse. The second display system is thus advantageously used for selecting, entering input and observing results of execution at a first computer.
In other words, a person at the second display system can control operations at the first computer in the same way as a person at the first computer system. Requirements for each second display system are minimal, and any one of several second display systems may be employed at the same time. Importantly, the second display systems may be located remotely from each other and from the first computer system, with the several systems connected using a local or wide area network, such as the Internet.
Using VNC techniques, one or more virtual call center monitors may simultaneously view the desktop, including windows containing merchant applications, presently displayed at the desktop of a CSR. Moreover, as circumstances may require, a monitor can directly control the selection, display, data entry and interaction with such merchant application and current customer in exactly the same manner, and to the same extent, as a CSR.
It will be recognized that applications for the present invention extend beyond voice-based virtual call centers, and will include monitoring and control of sessions in varying contexts and employing a variety of media, protocols, data forms and merchant or other applications. Thus, for example, messages, graphical and other data, images of many kinds, as well as voice or other audio information, will be monitored and controlled using embodiments of the present invention in meeting particular application environments.